Many journalists are saying that it sounds much better than many were dreading. They simulated a lap of Monza on the dyno. Does anyone know if any recordings of it have found their way onto the web yet? Or maybe they stopped people from using mobile phones to record the sound.

"There will be a new quality to the racing too. It will edge towards a thinking drivers' formula to get the most from the car and the available fuel energy.

"The engines will also deliver much more torque - especially on the exit of the corners. Cars with more power than grip coming out of the corners - that is something that we all enjoy.

Not sure if they're trying to convince the fans or themselves...but I'm not one of the doom-mongers of the V6 era. We've lost V12s, V10s and now V8s...as long as we don't end up with lawnmower engines and don't lose the speed we'll be fine.

The V8s already sound rubbish compared to the old engines, so we're not losing much in that respect. If you still need earplugs to sit on the International Pit Straight then I'll be happy enough.

Well the way they are talking about it has got me excited, but I think that may be down to a change rather than the engines. It's going to be interesting if the engine changes will make a difference and who can benefit or not, from it.

Not sure if they're trying to convince the fans or themselves...but I'm not one of the doom-mongers of the V6 era. We've lost V12s, V10s and now V8s...as long as we don't end up with lawnmower engines and don't lose the speed we'll be fine.

The V8s already sound rubbish compared to the old engines, so we're not losing much in that respect. If you still need earplugs to sit on the International Pit Straight then I'll be happy enough.

I was wondering if it's to convince those that bought into Ferraris and Bernies These are a bit fairy cakes style comments.

I must say though that is a gorgeous looking engine! Im sure it wont be all that bad.. Like its been said, as long as the thrill of the speed and the sound of the engines remains somewhat similar it wont bother me to much.

I never thought they would sound bad, we had them in the 70s and 80s and people weren't mad.

But the thing was that in those days Turbo technology was at an evolutionary point and people really began to explore all the intricacies of a turbo system and being that it was F1, the squeezed the living daylights out of them to create monstrously overpowered 4-bangers. Then that was getting too powerful, too dangerous and as we all know highly unreliable and so the decision was made to go to natural aspiration. The V10's sounded incredible and most 12's even better, with that high pitched tone you could hear as the cars were coming around a distant corners, decibel levels increasing as the tone morphed into the loudest high-pitched scream as it blew past, taking with it anything that wasn't part of the track to the point, some of us blew loads in our shorts! LOL

The V8's of today sound really damn good but for those of us who have a better point of reference, knowing how the 10's and 12's sounded, they just lack that little sumthin'.

These new engines might add some excitement, but there's no substitute for this:

that engine looks good - and I'm sure with the right exhaust it'll sound brilliant!It would be interesting to see the real performance of it in an F1 car directly next to the current engines? Presumably, this gives Merc a long time to test it for reliability and fine tune it before homologation?

I never thought they would sound bad, we had them in the 70s and 80s and people weren't mad.

But the thing was that in those days Turbo technology was at an evolutionary point and people really began to explore all the intricacies of a turbo system and being that it was F1, the squeezed the living daylights out of them to create monstrously overpowered 4-bangers. Then that was getting too powerful, too dangerous and as we all know highly unreliable and so the decision was made to go to natural aspiration. The V10's sounded incredible and most 12's even better, with that high pitched tone you could hear as the cars were coming around a distant corners, decibel levels increasing as the tone morphed into the loudest high-pitched scream as it blew past, taking with it anything that wasn't part of the track to the point, some of us blew loads in our shorts! LOL

The V8's of today sound really damn good but for those of us who have a better point of reference, knowing how the 10's and 12's sounded, they just lack that little sumthin'.

These new engines might add some excitement, but there's no substitute for this:

I never thought they would sound bad, we had them in the 70s and 80s and people weren't mad.

But the thing was that in those days Turbo technology was at an evolutionary point and people really began to explore all the intricacies of a turbo system and being that it was F1, the squeezed the living daylights out of them to create monstrously overpowered 4-bangers. Then that was getting too powerful, too dangerous and as we all know highly unreliable and so the decision was made to go to natural aspiration. The V10's sounded incredible and most 12's even better, with that high pitched tone you could hear as the cars were coming around a distant corners, decibel levels increasing as the tone morphed into the loudest high-pitched scream as it blew past, taking with it anything that wasn't part of the track to the point, some of us blew loads in our shorts! LOL

The V8's of today sound really damn good but for those of us who have a better point of reference, knowing how the 10's and 12's sounded, they just lack that little sumthin'.

These new engines might add some excitement, but there's no substitute for this:

I never thought they would sound bad, we had them in the 70s and 80s and people weren't mad.

But the thing was that in those days Turbo technology was at an evolutionary point and people really began to explore all the intricacies of a turbo system and being that it was F1, the squeezed the living daylights out of them to create monstrously overpowered 4-bangers. Then that was getting too powerful, too dangerous and as we all know highly unreliable and so the decision was made to go to natural aspiration. The V10's sounded incredible and most 12's even better, with that high pitched tone you could hear as the cars were coming around a distant corners, decibel levels increasing as the tone morphed into the loudest high-pitched scream as it blew past, taking with it anything that wasn't part of the track to the point, some of us blew loads in our shorts! LOL

The V8's of today sound really damn good but for those of us who have a better point of reference, knowing how the 10's and 12's sounded, they just lack that little sumthin'.

These new engines might add some excitement, but there's no substitute for this:

V10s sounded the way they did because they had 25% more cylinders firing per second at equivalent rpms. V6s will see a 25% reduction from the V8s, coupled with a 16.7% drop in max rpm, resulting in a maximum frequency which is 5/8ths as high. So the engines will be much lower in pitch. However, we will have a new noise from the turbo and forced compression so it will be curious to see what the result is. The engines are allowed to use max fuel flow at 10,000rpm, so in theory they could produce maximum torque/power at this point with the turbo making the engine more powerful at that engine speed (and potentially louder at the lower engine notes) compared to the current engine noise. However the shrill, high speed shriek of he current engines will be a thing of the past. It's not to say it will be a bad noise, but it will most certainly be different.

_________________Science is about the natural world, things we can observe, test and gather data for. Why, then, do we teach that life on earth arose spontaneously from non-living matter in school science classes?

When they introduce electric-only in the pitlane, and having to restart the engine at the end, wonder how many times we'll see cars crawling through the pits on nearly-dead batteries, not making it to the end, causing collisions and holding other cars up, and failing to restart and causing a safety car?

Have to wonder how many times a team-mate or sister-team's car will slow someone down in the pit lane "because the battery was low", and then they'll be investigating was the battery actually low or not, and was that intentional or accidental. Some will get away with cheating, and some innocents will be punished.

For those reasons I think they should forget about electric-only and let KERS just be a boost.

Also, Webber might as well retire at the end of next season, because with an electric motor that big on the engines he won't be able to score points in the half of the races where his KERS fails.

Have to wonder how many times a team-mate or sister-team's car will slow someone down in the pit lane "because the battery was low", and then they'll be investigating was the battery actually low or not, and was that intentional or accidental. Some will get away with cheating, and some innocents will be punished.

I was going to say to get your tinfoil hat out, but with all that stored ERS energy it's probably not a good idea.

Have to wonder how many times a team-mate or sister-team's car will slow someone down in the pit lane "because the battery was low", and then they'll be investigating was the battery actually low or not, and was that intentional or accidental. Some will get away with cheating, and some innocents will be punished.

I was going to say to get your tinfoil hat out, but with all that stored ERS energy it's probably not a good idea.

You're right, no-one would ever think of cheating like that, just like no-one would ever order their own car to crash.

When they introduce electric-only in the pitlane, and having to restart the engine at the end, wonder how many times we'll see cars crawling through the pits on nearly-dead batteries, not making it to the end, causing collisions and holding other cars up, and failing to restart and causing a safety car?

I can't see it. I'm sure if push comes to the shove the FIA will let them go to petrol again rather than cause that. Then investigate whether it was Force Majuere or not after the race.

It might just be me but I've been to races in the V10/V12 era, the solely V10 era and the V8 one and don't actually notice that much difference in the sound of the cars... I certainly don't find one sound massively more pleasurable than the others.

_________________"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea."

When they introduce electric-only in the pitlane, and having to restart the engine at the end, wonder how many times we'll see cars crawling through the pits on nearly-dead batteries, not making it to the end, causing collisions and holding other cars up, and failing to restart and causing a safety car?

I can't see it. I'm sure if push comes to the shove the FIA will let them go to petrol again rather than cause that. Then investigate whether it was Force Majuere or not after the race.

When they introduce electric-only in the pitlane, and having to restart the engine at the end, wonder how many times we'll see cars crawling through the pits on nearly-dead batteries, not making it to the end, causing collisions and holding other cars up, and failing to restart and causing a safety car?

I can't see it. I'm sure if push comes to the shove the FIA will let them go to petrol again rather than cause that. Then investigate whether it was Force Majuere or not after the race.

I thought I read that they're doing away with Force Majuere.

Thats in quali if they don't make it around and claim fuel issues.

I just don't see how they can say cars must run on battery power and not have a proviso for when the battery power packs in. Unless they suggest cars just park up because they can't make their way down the pit with electric power. Which means parking on track because they wouldn't be allowed to drive into their pits to retire. Which would be pretty stupid at tracks like Monaco.

When they introduce electric-only in the pitlane, and having to restart the engine at the end, wonder how many times we'll see cars crawling through the pits on nearly-dead batteries, not making it to the end, causing collisions and holding other cars up, and failing to restart and causing a safety car?

I can't see it. I'm sure if push comes to the shove the FIA will let them go to petrol again rather than cause that. Then investigate whether it was Force Majuere or not after the race.

I thought I read that they're doing away with Force Majuere.

Thats in quali if they don't make it around and claim fuel issues.

I just don't see how they can say cars must run on battery power and not have a proviso for when the battery power packs in. Unless they suggest cars just park up because they can't make their way down the pit with electric power. Which means parking on track because they wouldn't be allowed to drive into their pits to retire. Which would be pretty stupid at tracks like Monaco.

The rules 2014 are just draft. Anyway if car retires it wouldn't matter whether it broke rules or not. The car is already practically out of competition.